


Online Bond

by Varewulf



Series: MMO Adventures with Ako and Rinko [1]
Category: BanG Dream! (Anime), BanG Dream! Girl's Band Party! (Video Game)
Genre: Fluff, Gen, playing videogames, plus surprise bonus characters
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-24
Updated: 2018-07-24
Packaged: 2019-06-15 15:55:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,818
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15416424
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Varewulf/pseuds/Varewulf
Summary: Ako and Rinko are playing their favourite online game, and team up with their regular adventuring buddy to take on the game's newest dungeon.





	Online Bond

**Author's Note:**

> Got this idea after a twitter conversation yesterday. While it might be implied that Ako and Rinko are together, there isn't really any yuri in this fic, not to the extent that I feel it earns the tag, at least. It's fun to do something different every now and again. But if you wanted something more like my usual stuff, then... sorry. Probably next time. Also not tagging the characters that appear at the end, because I don't want to give away the surprise.
> 
> Action dramatised for your reading pleasure.

The zombie minotaur towered above the two adventurers. Its bloodstained axe gleamed in the torchlight illuminating the stone corridor they were in. With a bloodcurdling roar it swung the axe, crushing the rock elemental that was at its feet. Then it turned its attention to the adventurers.

At the front was a figure in gleaming, ornate silver plate armour, their entire body covered in metal, wielding a large shield with a golden lion head as its crest in their left hand, and a massive broadsword covered in shining light in their right. They raised the shield as the next axe swing came down, and deflected the blow, sending the axe head smashing into the floor.

"Radiant slash!"

The shine of the sword intensified as the figure swung in a wide arc, causing a slice of light to fly from the blade. It struck across the chest of the minotaur, momentarily knocking it off balance.

"Now!"

The figure behind had been waiting for just such an opening. Clad in a black and crimson robe that gave off a dark aura, they raised their twisted crystal staff.

"Hellfire!"

Four bolts of fire with black cores sprung forth, and curved around the knightly figure before converging on the minotaur. It was instantly engulfed in flame from head to hoof. Another roar emerged, then fell silent. It dropped to its knees as the fire faded, and then it exploded into a shower of sparkles.

For a moment nothing moved, then the robed figure suddenly jumped into the air, and bounced around a few times.

"Did you see that, Rin-Rin!? We did it!"

"Yes we did, Ako-chan. But I think it's best... if we head back now."

"Oh... sure."

The robed figure raised their staff again.

"Gate!"

A swirling dark oval appeared out of thin air, and the two of them stepped through. On the other side they came out into a bustling town named Torellia. In stark contrast to the dark stone corridor, it was a bright and sunny day out here, with other adventurers and NPCs milling about all over the place. The plaza they were in had a large fountain in the middle, and the ground was entirely set in cobblestone, stretching into every street this place exited into. Signs pointed to areas like Merchant Street, Crafter's Alley, and Guild Halls. Questgivers and event characters were strewn about the area.

This was the world known as Bright Wonder, the online game of choice for Shirokane Rinko, and Udagawa Ako. The two of them were on private voice chat, as usual.

"Phew... that was tough," Rinko said. She was the one playing the character in silver plate armour. An Exalted Paladin of level 500, the game's current max, whose nameplate said 'AionSeraph'.

"Yeah, but we pulled through!" Ako's character was a Cursed Summoner, who was still only level 414, and whose nameplate said 'DarkHerald'. While the level gap was not insubstantial, the two of them still played together all the time. The powerful gear Rinko had helped Ako get meant her power wasn't as far off of the basic level 500 player as it otherwise might have been.

The two of them had been exploring the game's latest update, a new dungeon called The Tomb of Kar'Gato. It was entirely underground, and heavily undead themed. Which seemed perfect for a paladin like Rinko's, but was less ideal for Ako's summoner. She had specced heavily into all sorts of dark and cool spells, which the undead often had some degree of resistance to. Thankfully she wasn't entirely helpless, and still managed to pull her weight for the most part.

They were trying to get Ako levelled up to max as well, and the new high-level dungeon seemed like a perfect opportunity for Rinko to help her power-level a little. But it had turned out a bit tougher than expected. The regular mobs took quite a beating, and the minotaur had nearly stretched them to their limits. It wasn't even a boss, just an elite mob. While paladins had some healing spells, it wasn't enough for what they were being put through, especially when she had to focus on tanking. There was no way they'd be able to take down even a minor boss with just the two of them. AionSeraph might be considered somewhat overpowered, but there were still limits to what she could do.

"We might need help... if we want to push further in," Rinko said.

"Yeah, maybe..." Ako said.

Rinko wasn't particularly fond of playing with randoms, but sometimes there was little choice. With the dungeon being new, there was bound to be lots of people in the party finder channels. Whether they could find someone reliable was a different matter.

"Oh hey, Bonsai-san is on!" Ako suddenly exclaimed. "Should I ask them if they wanna join?"

Rinko smiled unseen. "Yes, please do," she replied.

BonsaiCat was someone the two of them had ended up playing with regularly, after forming a random party with them once, and hitting it off. They could be a little impatient and grumpy, but were very reliable. And very conveniently they played a healer: a Divine Priest.

"They said they're game," Ako said.

BonsaiCat couldn't join their voice chat, so they had to rely on text chat, but it had almost never caused any issues.

" _BonsaiCat has joined the party_ ," said the system message, and soon enough they could see a familiar figure coming their way.

Fittingly, BonsaiCat played a cat person. Catgirl, to be precise. They were short, with dark blonde fur, and light blonde hair. Their green eyes with slit pupils gave off an impression of cunning. They were wearing vestments of gleaming gold and white, and their staff's head was shaped after one of the game's fictional holy symbols. Of course, there was no way of knowing what they looked like in real life.

There were many races to pick from in Bright Wonder. Ako played an elf; tall, with long red hair and blue eyes similar to her sister Tomoe. Rinko found it charming how much Ako adored her sister.

Rinko played a different kind of beast person, a bulky bearkin, but it was impossible to tell as she was entirely covered in armour. The bear tribe had bonuses to both strength, and holy element, which made it a sensible choice for a paladin.

" _I'm so glad you guys are on_ ," Bonsai typed into the chat. " _I was losing my mind trying to keep idiots alive_."

" _We're glad you're here, too,_ " Rinko typed.

MMO healers tended to come in two flavours. The helpful, cheerful type who was always encouraging, and infinitely patient. The other type was more jaded and cynical. Highly competent, but very willing to let other players die if they didn't behave, or did stupid things. Many of the latter kind had started out as the former.

BonsaiCat was very firmly in the latter camp. So long as their party members knew what they were doing, Bonsai raised no objections, and generally didn't type a lot in chat. But they had very little patience for incompetence and stupidity. If you didn't move out of the AoEs, you would not get saved, but you might get chewed out.

But even though Bonsai could be a bit prickly, the three of them had formed a bit of a bond. Bonsai had actually starting chatting more with them. Not that they talked about offline life much, but they would discuss the game, and other online or hobby things. Rinko thought they sounded like someone she could get along with in real life, if she could overcome her anxiety about meeting strangers. She had done so with Ako, but wasn't sure if she was ready for anyone else.

After some quick deliberation, they decided to set out with just the three of them. Bonsai was level 489 now, a little higher than last time they had played together, so that was hopefully enough to let them push through on their own. Neither Rinko nor Bonsai were keen on the idea of dragging any randoms into the group. Especially Bonsai, who had already been dealing with random groups for a while today.

They started over at the beginning, and made their way inside. It was amazing how much quicker they progressed with just one extra person. Soon enough they were at the same zombie minotaur that had given Ako and Rinko so much trouble, and with Bonsai's support it went down with ease.

Not long after it was time for the first boss. It was only a minor boss, but it still had a chance of some good drops. The boss was a large abomination, a writhing mass of corpses haphazardly stitched and stuck together. But that was all they could tell without entering the room, and triggering the fight. The room itself seemed like your typical boss room. A large, circular arena, entirely made of stone like the rest of the dungeon, with no features indicating that there were any special mechanics to the fight. There were supporting pillars, but they didn't look large enough to hide behind if any attacks might require that. So it was time to make sure they were ready.

"Divine armour!"

Shining shields circled around each of them for a few seconds, causing their characters to glow, then fading, and leaving only a buff symbol on their status bars. While technically a holy spell, Divine armour was just a generic protection spell, boosting its target's defence. There were elemental protection spells too, but they didn't know what sort of attacks the boss had. If necessary, Bonsai could cast one mid-combat. As it was only a minor boss, it likely just had physical attacks and some AoEs.

"Fortify mind!"

A shining ring appeared at their feet, and rose up around them until vanishing above their heads. Another buff symbol appeared. Priests came with lots of support spells and buffs, and Fortify mind was another of the more general-purpose ones. It protected against most mental ailments like fear, confusion, and sleep, and increased the chance of resisting mind control effects. Additionally, since Bonsai was a Divine Priest, one of the advanced classes, Fortify mind also gave a minor boost to spellpower. So even if the boss didn't use any mental attacks, it gave Ako and Bonsai a little extra damage output.

After making sure all of their items and abilities were arranged and hot-keyed correctly, they rushed into the room. The boss activated as soon as they crossed the arena boundary, and its name and health bar appeared. Targlom, The Rotted Heap. It let out a dramatic roar before charging towards them.

Rinko stepped out in front, raising her shield against the boss's first blow. What vaguely resembled an arm came crashing down on her so hard that even in her shield stance, it took a notable chunk out of her health bar.

"Regeneration!"

A holy light surrounded her, causing her health to gradually tick back up. Bonsai had opened with a heal over time spell, probably judging that it should suffice for now.

"Sanctified blade!"

Another cast immediately followed from Bonsai, causing a large sword of light to materialise above their head, before flying forth and burying itself in the boss's body.

"Searing spear!"

From Ako's side a large spear made of fire flew forth, also sinking into the vast mass of the boss.

"Hellfire!"

Like before, four bolts of fire flew at the boss, but because it wasn't unbalanced it didn't get completely engulfed like the zombie minotaur had. It was still a decent bit of damage, though.

Rinko could tell the boss had shifted its attention, because it started moving to go past her.

"Flash!"

She held forth her shield, and the boss was bathed in a blinding light. It didn't do any damage, but it raised her threat level, so the boss focused on her again, and threw another blow her way.

"Enfeebling blow!"

After blocking the attack, she lashed out with one of her own, lowering the boss's offence and defence stats.

And so the party traded blows back and forth with the boss. While it would occasionally throw an exploding corpse towards Ako and Bonsai, it was otherwise a very straight-forward fight. Rinko focused on keeping its attention; Ako cast damage spells, and summoned elementals to help with the fighting; and Bonsai switched between support spells, and helping deal damage.

After several minutes of intense fighting, the boss finally emitted a death rattle, and exploded into a mass of sparkles that filled the entire room. Two chests spawned by the exit to further into the dungeon.

Bonsai used the cheering celebration emote.

" _We rule!_ " they said in the chat.

" _Yeah, that was cool!_ " Ako concurred.

Rinko couldn't help smiling. Those two were always so excitable when they cleared a boss or did some other notable feat. It was cute.

They made their way over to the chests as the sparkles slowly faded away. One of the chests just contained crafting materials, and a few potions. The other contained some agility-based boots that none of them had any use for, and a Caster staff that was suited for Ako. It was better than what she was using, but...

" _It doesn't look very cool_ ," Ako typed. It was made of dark wood, as long as she was tall, but had a pretty plain design, with only a few glowing runes to make it seem at all special.

" _Who cares_ ," Bonsai typed. " _Just use it anyway_." When Ako still hesitated, Bonsai added: " _When we get back to town, I can glamour it to look like something cooler. But just use it for now, okay?_ "

" _Okay!_ " Ako replied.

"Bonsai-san is very kind, aren't they?" Rinko said over the voice chat.

"Yeah!" Ako agreed.

On the surface BonsaiCat could often seem impatient and ill-tempered, yet they would regularly be willing to help out and compromise.

" _Should we move on?_ " Rinko asked in the chat.

" _Let's_ ," Bonsai replied, and they all walked into the next corridor. The colour of the stone started changing here, from the dull grey that had been earlier, to a more ominous green. The enemies ahead would probably have some different types from what they had faced so far.

Yet before they even reached the first new enemy, they noticed that Bonsai had stopped moving. They waited a moment.

" _Is something the matter?_ " Rinko typed.

Another few moments passed before there was a reply. " _I'm really sorry, but something suddenly came up. I have to go, but I'll see you later_."

" _Okay. Later_." By the time Rinko hit enter, BonsaiCat was already using a town scroll to head back.

" _I'm really, really sorry_ ," they typed again after vanishing.

" _BonsaiCat has logged off,_ " said a system message before either of them could type anything more in response.

"Awww, that's too bad. We were doing really well, too," Ako said. She sounded quite disappointed.

"Yes. It's a shame," Rinko said. "But it happens." They couldn't really control what real life threw at them.

The two of them probably had to stop there, then. They could try going on to at least see some of what was in store, or summon someone in via the party finder, but it might also be a good point for a break. Find something else to do in the meantime, and try again later.

* * *

"Arisaaaaaaa~" Kasumi wasted no time hugging onto Arisa as soon as she came into her room.

"Eesh, you should give me more of a warning before you come over, Kasumi," Arisa complained.

"But I was so excited to see you that I forgot!" Kasumi said cheerfully, and kissed Arisa on the cheek.

"You're hopeless," Arisa said.

"I love you," Kasumi chirped.

"Yeah, yeah..." Arisa returned the hug, then breathed a quiet sigh of relief.

When Kasumi had sent a text that she was right outside the house, Arisa had panicked, and scrambled to quickly shut down the game. No way was she going to let Kasumi know that she played an MMO. Kasumi would just insist on starting to play too, and Arisa wasn't sure she had the patience to endure that, no matter how much she loved her. Kasumi was awful at games. She felt bad about abandoning Seraph and Herald like that, though. It had taken her a long time to find someone she enjoyed regularly adventuring with. Hopefully they wouldn't hold it against her.

"So what are you up to?" Kasumi asked.

"Oh, you know... just looking at stuff online..." Arisa said vaguely.

"What kinda stuff?"

"None of your business."

"Eeeehhh?? Oh, I know! You were looking at naughty pictures again, weren't you~?" Kasumi said in a smarmy tone.

"W-w-what do you mean 'again'?! I've never done that to begin with!" Arisa protested, while starting to blush.

"Ehehe, you can't fool me!" Kasumi teased.

"Kasumiiiiiiiiii!"


End file.
